Hatch, one of the most prominent Mormon Republicans in the country, thinks Romney shouldn’t spend any time talking about his religion when he reintroduces himself to the American public in his nomination acceptance speech Thursday night.

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“I don’t think there’s a downside [of talking about his religion], but I don’t think that’s what the American people want,” the Utah senator told POLITICO on Monday.

“I think people want to hear – what’s he going to do? Is he going to turn this mess around? Is he going to work at solving these economic problems that we know are in the doldrums right now and aren’t likely to be solved by President Obama, nice guy though he may be. The American people want to know: What are you go to do for us?”

Hatch’s comments are a far cry from recent election cycles in which Republicans have not shied away about talking about their faith. But it speaks to the tricky religious politics inside the GOP, with some evangelicals viewing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints suspiciously.

Still, Romney plans to make a “reference” to his Mormon religion when he gives his speech here in Tampa, according to Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to the former Massachusetts governor.

“So, it’s something that the governor himself insisted on talking about,” Fehrnstrom said Monday. “He will make reference to it in his speech, and he will hear from other speakers at the conventions about the counseling and pastoral work that Mitt Romney did.”

In the run-up to his unsuccessful primary run in 2008, Romney delivered a major address about his faith, but he hasn’t stressed the topic on the campaign trail this time around.

Hatch said that’s not a problem.

“I don’t think – to be brutally frank about it — I don’t think those are the issues,” Hatch said in the interview. “The issues are who is the most competent guy to run this country, who is likely to bring us out of the mess we’re in, who would actually has the ability and the capacity to get the private sector moving again.”